UFL: Kaya held by Nomads as both teams finish with ten men

Kaya were held to a 0-0 draw, Tuesday at the Mckinley Hill Emperador Stadium by a robust Nomads side, as both clubs saw red in the second half. In the opening 45 minutes, Kenshiro Daniels spurned the best chance of the half, hitting wide on a one-on-one opportunity. Then in the second, Kross Ubiam saw yellow for the second time meaning he was sent off, before Ferdinand Atangana left his leg for Anton Del Rosario to go over and saw red too. Kaya failed to break down the Nomads defense in the remaining time, with OJ Porteria tamely shooting at goal in the best chance of the second half, as both teams recorded their second draw in two games. First half The game started slowly, and a little rough, as the two teams scouted each other out in the early skirmishes. Nomads were looking to bounce back from their close loss to Global, while Kaya were looking to build on their narrow victory over the Archers, via OJ Porteria’s wonder goal, to keep up with the Stallions, Meralco, and Global at the top. Nomads made two early changes, bringing in Jason Arroyo for Jose Lozano and Luis Infante for Woldring just before the half-hour mark while both teams continued to test each other. Neither created a clear-cut chance but Fidelis Nnabuife, playing against his former side, got the first yellow card of the game when he caught Dario Dakic with a late challenge in the 32nd minute. From a corner, Fidelis had a good opportunity to score, collecting the ball from the corner but scuffing his shot into the ground and Saba palmed the ball away comfortably. Nomads continued to look the more dangerous side until Kaya counter-attacked just before halftime, finding Kenshiro Daniels behind the backline, but the young forward could only fire wide of the goal from inside the area. Second half Minutes after the restart, things heated up when Eddie Mallari slid in for a tackle, and while down on the floor, was stamped on by Ferdinand Atangana. In retaliation, Mallari kicked out at the player’s leg, both players possibly warranting red cards. In the end though, both got away with yellows. Loic Toullec came on for Mikhail Cardoso before Kross Ubiam got booked and Nomads won a corner. The corner was won when Alu Kigbu tackled his man, who was trying to get to the byline, but fell awkwardly on his arm. Kaya had a penalty shout in the 61st minute when Fidelis Nnabuife pulled down Sean Iliffe, though Nomads would argue there wasn’t enough contact and Iliffe went down too easily, but Nomads continued to hold firm against Kaya.   Kaya were then reduced to ten men when Kross Ubiam got booked for the second time in the space of fifteen minutes, while Anton Del Rosario came in for Alu Kigbu. OJ Porteria then broke through in the 72nd minute, latching onto Chris Greatwich’s lobbed through ball, but his shot was too tame and the goalkeeper saved comfortably. Philip Connolly came in for Steve Borrill two minutes later before Anton Del Rosario won a foul against Ferdinand Atangana, who was also shown his second yellow card meaning he was sent off too. Del Rosario was looking for the contact and drew the foul, and while it was certainly justified, the Nomads may disagree with the card and it put them on the back foot. Kaya were pressing the action with both teams left with ten men on the pitch. They lacked the final pass though, and couldn’t break down the Nomad’s defense. When it looked like they would, OJ Porteria was brought down by Daniel Williams as Kaya tried to counter-attack and he earned a yellow card for bringing down the teenager, who was then brought off for Antonio Ugarte. Nomads wound down the clock to record a hard fought draw in a game either side could have won. Failing to score will be a worry for Kaya, whose traditional problem is a lack of goals, and they will need to establish a system soon in order to break down teams like the Nomads and challenge for the title. Nomads, meanwhile, will be happy with the performance and the clean sheet and with three games gone, the two teams look pretty even right now. They sit together in fourth, with four points, two goals scored, and two goals conceded each. - AMD, GMA News